Hopedale selectmen indicate tax levy override needed

By Christopher Gavin Daily News Staff

Tuesday

Jun 12, 2018 at 6:22 PMJun 12, 2018 at 6:22 PM

HOPEDALE - While no official recommendation to voters has been made, the Board of Selectmen indicated this week that the town will need to pursue a tax levy override, because even additional proposed budget cuts would do little to diminish expenses.

In a meeting with town department administrators, fellow committee and board members and residents on Monday, selectmen emphasized the challenges surrounding Hopedale’s limited tax base, stagnant state aid and the impacts further cuts could have on public safety and town government.

Selectman Tom Wesley said the numbers show the need for money is not a problem that town leadership created.

There is only so much officials can do to tighten the town’s proposed $26.6 million operating budget without sacrificing the quality of life for residents, he said.

“We have spoken over the last month over what the impacts would be if we cut our way below (the levy excess) and really it’s an ugly scenario,” Wesley said. “I agree with Chairman (Louis) Arcudi: There’s a limit to just how much I think we’re all willing to sacrifice to our public safety, to our education system, to the general upkeep of the town infrastructure. You can’t shrink your way to greatness.”

Officials have said they found out on short notice before last month’s Town Meeting that Hopedale can only raise its tax levy, or how much it collects in taxes, to $14.06 million this year, although they had budgeted for $14.8 million.

If the 2019 fiscal year budget is approved as is at next Tuesday’s Special Town Meeting, a ballot vote for a tax levy override is needed in September because the proposed levy increase is 7.5 percent - higher than the annual 2.5 percent cap set by the state.

Finance Committee Chairwoman Karla Hopkins, upon the committee’s further review of the budget in recent weeks, said Monday that officials would need to reduce the budget by approximately $482,000 to avoid an override.

She put forth recommendations for cuts, including reductions in the budget for gas for town vehicles, public building repairs and highway and sidewalk repairs, among others, that would come to about an $82,000 reduction.

“We looked at the ones that had, what we hope, the least impact to the department heads being able to run their departments and the taxpayers being impacted by a reduction,” Hopkins said.

But selectmen said even with those cuts, as well as a 1 percent (about $14,000) decrease to the Town Hall budget, the excess remains at between $386,000 and $400,000, and is therefore not enough to avoid the need for an override vote.

“There’s just simply not a lot of frivolous spending, and over the last two months, we would have found it if there was,” Selectman Brian Keyes said.

As the proposed levy currently stands, the average residential taxpayer could see an increase of $172.96 in taxes per year, based on the average single-family home in town assessed at $331,844, Town Administrator Steve Sette said.

Asked whether officials would still consider excluding debt to lower the tax levy increase, Arcudi said they don’t have the ability to do that as initially thought a few weeks ago.

In an interview Tuesday, Arcudi said officials once considered excluding debt incurred from the project to build Hopedale Junior-Senior High School.

But they have learned that because Hopedale receives money from the state to pay off the debt, the town could only exclude the debt it pays for on its own, which is significantly less than the amount officials originally thought they could exclude, he said.

Pursuing a debt exclusion also means a ballot vote would ultimately be needed in addition to the override vote, which presents the risk of a scenario in which one is approved and the other is not, according to Arcudi.

He said officials are considering whether certain expenses could be covered under multiple bonds totaling $2.5 million that will be voted on at next week’s Town Meeting as a means to lower the levy increase.

Residents at Monday’s meeting asked selectmen to make materials regarding town finances available on the Town of Hopedale website and Arcudi said they planned on doing so by the middle of this week.

Special Town Meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 19 at the Hopedale Junior-Senior High School.

Christopher Gavin can be reached at 508 634-7582 or cgavin@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @c_gavinMDN